ESR News Blog

Private-sector employment continued its modest upward trend with the addition of 67,000 jobs, and has increased by an average of 72,000 jobs per month over the past 4 months, according to a report from the US. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

The BLS “THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION – AUGUST 2010” report also showed that the number of unemployed persons (14.9 million) and the unemployment rate (9.6 percent) were little changed as the jobless rate has remained in the range of 9.5 to 9.7 percent from May through August. The report found job gains in the following industries:

Construction employment was up by 19,000 jobs in August, with about half of the increase due to the return of 10,000 workers following a strike.

Temporary help services employment was up 17,000 jobs over the month and this industry has added 392,000 jobs since September 2009.

Employment in mining continued to expand, adding 8,000 jobs, and reflecting ongoing job gains in support activities for mining.

On the negative side, Federal government employment fell for the third consecutive month in August, as the number of temporary Census 2010 workers declined by 114,000. In addition, Manufacturing employment fell by 27,000 in August, mostly offsetting an increase in July.